If you’re reading this on June 30, happy Social Media Day! If it’s not June 30, don’t fret. The online social world is alive and well and here to stay. Let’s explore social media with a few trivia facts about social media.
The first social platform was created in 1997.
Social media platforms didn’t hit the scene until the late ’90s with Six Degrees. It allowed users to upload a profile and connect with other users, but faded into the background by 2001. It got its name from the popular theory of humans only being six steps away from connecting to anyone. Hello, Kevin Bacon.
Users spend a lot of time each day looking at social posts.
In 2021, the average user spends 2.5 hours daily on social media. As the social media queen here at TCEA, there is no judgement for this one. In fact, when I ask someone how much time they spend online socially, I usually add an hour and sometimes two. All of those minutes add up.
Facebook still rules.
The word on the street is that Facebook is dying, but it’s not true. Every five seconds a new Facebook profile is created. By the time you are done reading this, 60 new users have joined. If you’re a slower reader or get distracted easily like me, it’s probably closer to 100. In fact, Facebook drives 23% of traffic across the entire internet.
Videos were and still are the hottest thing.
Who knew that video creation would become so massive? Me, I knew. Videos are the number one way that people discover a new company or product. Users have become accustomed to no longer scrolling through their feed, but now swiping to the right to view stories. Unfamiliar with stories? Stories are short-form videos that typically only last 24 hours. Twitter and LinkedIn have even tossed their hats into the ring with fleets and stories.
88% of people under the age of 29 use social media.
That’s not a typo. 88% of people ages 18-29 years old are online socially. Although that age range doesn’t include the students in your classroom, we can safely assume that they also match that statistic as they are being born into a digital world.
The hashtag was created by a user.
The hashtag idea came onto the scene from a Twitter user, Chris Messina, in a tweet in 2007. People were not impressed and fought the idea, but hashtags won.
Did you learn anything new about social media? What surprised you the most? Let me know in the comments.
1 comment
Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.